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	Subtopic	Started By	Posts
	Firefly by Episode Last Post: Nov 03, 2004, 04:18 am		28
	Archive through Jul 02, 2003 Last Post: Sep 25, 2003, 06:32 am		20

Posted By: RongFo Jul 02, 2003 - 07:10 pm

For those interested, Whedon will be releasing a Firefly DVD boxed set with all the Fox eps, three unaired eps, xtras, and etc. Presumably to stir up the buzz for his planned Firefly movie.

Posted By: Nomad Sep 05, 2003 - 08:01 am

'Firefly' Heads to Big Screen
By Brian Ford Sullivan


CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- FOX's short-lived sci-fi series "Firefly" is heading to the big screen courtesy of Universal Pictures.

Creator Joss Whedon is set to write and direct the film, which is scheduled to go into production in the first quarter of 2004. Universal picked up the rights to the cult series from 20th Century Fox Television, also the home of Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" franchise.

"Firefly" marks Whedon's feature directorial debut. The prolific writer/producer is best known in the feature community for his screenplay credits on such films as "Speed," "Titan A.E.," "Alien: Resurrection" and "Toy Story."

It's not clear which of "Firefly's" cast members are on board for the feature, although it's assumed attempts will be made to reunite the cast. Co-stars Morena Baccarin and Nathan Fillion both landed TV pilots this past development season with the former's ("Still Life" landing on FOX's midseason schedule. Fellow cast member Alan Tudyk has also been busy, as he's currently shooting the Will Smith-led feature "I, Robot."

"Firefly" has been building buzz as a possible feature since its cancellation late last year while a DVD set of the show's 15 episodes (three of which never aired on FOX) is considered one of the most anticipated releases of the holiday season.


http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/g...ire&id=6147

Posted By: RongFo Sep 05, 2003 - 07:02 pm

I read this on chud.com yesterday. I'm rather psyched. Also, the DVD set I mention above is available in December. Buy it, love it, see the movie!

Hopefully this and Angel will keep me happy until Tru Calling fails miserably and we get Faith the Slayer on a motorcycle (my favorite of the proposed Buffy spinoffs).

Posted By: ZimNova Sep 22, 2003 - 06:22 pm

News on the Firefly DVD release (street date 12-09-2003) from Chris Buchanan straight from the horses mouth at Mutant Enemy Productions.

I asked this question in reply to another answer:
"Chris. Q concerning the DVD release aspect ratio.
If I understand correctly to release the DVD set in 16:9 the show would have to have been filmed in that ratio, so was Firefly filmed in 35mm 16:9 LBX better know as widescreen?
The reason I ask is because as all Babylon-5 fans will remember the SciFi channel made a big deal advertising, after they picked up the syndication rights from Warner Bros., the first airing of the series as "it was meant to be seen" in LBX on their channel.
In it's hurry to deliver the tapes to the SFC Warner studio tech.'s rendered from the original 16:9 masters the tapes in 4:3 and at the last minute realizing those were not the LBX version that SFC had ordered tried to cheat by "cropping" the 4:3 tapes into fake LBX.
Of course nobody was fooled and an uproad followed that took a couple of weeks to sort out until Babylon's creator JMS explained Warners mistake to the public on his Usenet site. The second airing of the first season was in the correct format as were the first SFC airings of the remaining 4 seasons.
This also caused a problem with the Babylon-5 DVD release as although being shot in 16:9 Babylonian Productions knew the show would be broadcast in 4:3 and so to save money (I'm guessing) most of the CGI/EFX work was done in 4:3 resulting in a noticeable difference in visual quality during many scenes.

I noticed while watching my tape of the pilot *Serenity* that it's in LBX of two different types. The first and largest (all of the episode except the opening credits) is in what appears to be widescreen but could be cropped 4:3. It's hard to tell. The other is the opening credits themselves which look like the true 35mm 16:9 aspect ratio where the "difference" between the former widescreen and the opening credits is cropped even futher to fill in the empty screen space with what I believe is called "scroll masking" [?].
What I'm hoping is the DVD release will look like the opening credits of the pilot episode *Serenity*.
If you can find the time to answer please do as I'm sure many other browncoats are as interested in this matter as I am.
TIA, Mark aka ZimNova."

I received this reply and learned more about the aspect ratio's used during filming along the way (all this took place at the Fox Forum BBS as the official Firefly BBoard has been locked down to new posts until further notice by Fox. ME is working to restore it at this time.):
"To give you a quick response to a complicated subject...

The Firefly DVD will be in the 16:9 format (1.78:1).

I know that there are a multitude of issues surrounding the definitions of "letterbox" "widescreen" & "anamorphic" etc, but I'll be real practical here:

We shot the show on 35mm film in an aspect ration of 1.78:1 with a 1.33:1 (or 4:3) box to enable us to deliver both a "regular" TV version and a "widescreen" TV version to Fox Broadcasting. (Firefly was always conceived as a 16:9 show, but Fox, as a policy, does not broadcast any letterboxed shows. That being said, their HDTV broadcasts do go out widescreen.)

As for any differences in what you've already seen, we might have rendered some of the title work in 1.85:1 (anamorphic) but I really can't remember.

The bottom line is: What you are getting on DVD is what Joss intended: 16:9. No fake letterbox bars on a 4:3 show, no "panned and scanned" anything, just Serenity and her crew in glorious widescreen!

Hope that clarifies things.

Best,
Buchanan".

Woo Hoo. We will see Firefly in all it's glory in 16:9 widescreen sans the broadcast 4:3 version with the DVD's.
Shiny.

Posted By: ZimNova Sep 25, 2003 - 06:32 am

Posted By: Nautilus Oct 01, 2003 - 06:27 pm

Very shiny!

Posted By: ZimNova Dec 06, 2003 - 11:28 am

Whilst surfing SciFi.com I ran across this recent interview with Firefly series creator Joss Whedon. He talks about the DVD's, the series and the future. There's a decent picture of the entire cast as well as a pic of Capt. Mal Reynolds.

Joss Whedon speaks.

You can't take the sky from me.

Posted By: Bmat Dec 06, 2003 - 11:38 am

Thanks, Zim.

He says three episodes that weren't shown "here." is "here" the US? One of the episodes he mentions involves a bordello.

What show had an episode with a bordello in it? Farscape maybe? or Andromenda? I remember somebody being tortured...

Posted By: ZimNova Dec 06, 2003 - 04:10 pm

Bmat, the 3 un-aired episodes in question; *Heart of Gold*, *Trash* & *The Message* were shown in the UK during Firefly's run there and I believe also in Australia (?).
I've avoided spoilers like the plague for those episodes waiting for the DVD release.

Amazon.com has a great special on the Firefly DVD 4 disk set right now at $34.99 (US), a savings of $15 clams, Euro's, bucks, Quatloo's whatever.

Also a pretty comprehensive Firefly fan site can be found: Here
WARNING: This site contains spoilers for the un-aired ep.'s but you'll have to dig them out if you are so inclined.

As to a "bordello" you may be thinking of Farscape's: Scratch 'n' Sniff. In that episode alien drug dealers produce "Freslin" from female hosts, Jool was a victim of that process, but the "party" scenes were in a bar not a bordello.
S'n'S also showcases Gigi "Fire Twirling" and one of Farscape's funnier moments, Crichton & Ka D'argo waking up in the picture window after being rolled by the alien babes.

Posted By: Bmat Dec 06, 2003 - 04:37 pm

Thanks, Zim. That is a good price.

Maybe the episode I am thinking of was Scratch 'n' Sniff. The more I think about it, the more I think it must have been Farscape. I think some of the crew were attached to each other mentally by some kind of drug and were trying to find the antidote.

Posted By: Azziz Dec 12, 2003 - 07:29 pm

Ah yes, that was Farscape, I don't remember the name of the ep, but the crew ate some weird food and they each became paired with each other. Aeryn and one of the other women went into a bordello to try to get the antidote.

Posted By: ZimNova Dec 13, 2003 - 09:27 am

Ah Azziz, That rings a bell.
"Coup by Clam". That's the one where Rygel bites off that wierd doctors nose at one point and Moya is getting some kind of overhaul or systems upgrade.
Also in that episode woman are treated as second class citizens on the planet they were on so Crichton has to go to a bar dressed in drag...whoa that was funny!

Posted By: Nautilus Dec 18, 2003 - 06:16 pm

There's a local LA con that's spotlighting Joss Whedon and Firefly with the DVD being sold at $24.99.

Details at http://www.comicbookscifi.com

Posted By: Azziz Dec 21, 2003 - 09:54 pm

The DVD's are great! Interviews with Cast and Creators. Three unaired in US episodes. Lots of fun.

Posted By: ZimNova Dec 25, 2003 - 05:32 pm

I saw this at the SciFi Wire.

Posted By: Bmat Jan 24, 2004 - 11:20 am

I got the set from Amazon for $35. We just finished watching Serenity and then part of the special features.

Possible minor spoilers:

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I wish I had known sooner that there were now two major political powers- the US and China. (If I had read it before I forgot). I couldn't figure out what language kept being spoken instead of English. I'll also be on the lookout now for more Chinese oriented costumes and influences. Like the chopsticks some were using when they ate.

I also didn't realize the "space being seen by nine different people" concept that Whedon mentioned. I'll have to look for this when I watch the other episodes.

end mild spoilers.,
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I really liked Serenity, maybe even more this time around. The first time I saw it I watched with a critical eye. This time I watched with an appreciative eye and with the sadness that the show wasn't going to last.

Posted By: ZimNova Mar 04, 2004 - 05:37 pm

You can't take the sky from me.

Latest News
Joss Whedon - the Oscar and Emmy-nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel - is set to make his feature film directorial debut with the futuristic action-adventure Serenity, it was announced today by Mary Parent and Scott Stuber, vice chairmen, production, Universal Pictures.

Based on Whedon's cult hit television series Firefly (which has taken on a second life following its December 9, 2003, DVD release, winning new fans and critical praise worldwide), Serenity will continue and expand upon the adventures of the memorable characters launched in the series, who will be joined by new characters created expressly for the motion picture adaptation. Whedon will act as both screenwriter and director, with Barry Mendel (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and the upcoming Wes Anderson film, The Life Aquatic) producing and Chris Buchanan (president of Whedon's Mutant Enemy production company) and Alisa Tager (of Barry Mendel Productions) serving as executive producers. The Serenity cast will include such returning "Firefly" cast members as Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds, Gina Torres as Zoe Warren, Morena Baccarin as Inara Serra, Jewel Staite as Kaylee Frye, Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb, Sean Maher as Dr. Simon Tam and Summer Glau as River Tam.

"We have wanted to be in business with Joss Whedon for a long time and we're incredibly excited to be working with him on his feature film directorial debut," stated Parent and Stuber. "Joss is a true creator, whose talent crosses all mediums. His mythic worlds are inhabited with rich, detailed and very human characters. 'Serenity' will provide him with a great opportunity to paint another larger-than-life canvas with very identifiable, real characters at the heart of the story."

Whedon - whose compelling use of character, place and dramatic development helped "Buffy" and Angel to break down genre walls and cross over into global hit mainstream territory - now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, "Serenity." He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family -- squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

When Mal takes on two new passengers - a young doctor and his unstable, telepathic sister - he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from the coalition dominating the universe, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the girl. The crew that was once used to skimming the outskirts of the galaxy unnoticed find themselves caught between the unstoppable military force of the Universal Alliance and the horrific, cannibalistic fury of the Reavers, savages who roam the very edge of space. Hunted by vastly different enemies, they begin to discover that the greatest danger to them may be on board "Serenity" herself.

Special thanks to: ComingSoon for the heads up.

Posted By: ZimNova Mar 21, 2004 - 07:11 am

This is Off Topic but I thought this was the most appropriate place to post it. Scrunched from SaveFarscape.com.
btw, i've not checked this show out yet.

Hi. My name is Tim Minear and I write television. Usually. Right now I guess I'm writing SPAM. But I'm not asking you to donate to some shady or even worthy cause. I'm not offering to enlarge any of your body parts (though I haven't ruled it out), and I make no claims of miraculous cures for exotic diseases. What I can offer you is sixty minutes (really about forty five, minus commercials) of quality entertainment if you do one thing: turn on your TV to Fox this Friday night at nine.

For the last year or so I've been working with a bunch of really talented people to make a new show for Fox called "Wonderfalls." We've made 13 episodes so far, and I really want you to see them.

Some of the folks at the network are telling me that "Wonderfalls" is the best reviewed new series they've had in ages -- maybe ever. I'm currently sitting on a stack of raves from all over the country, from major magazines, newspapers, small dailies, internet sites, etc. They seem to be doing me no good. Also, uncomfortable because of the sitting.

The big brains at the network, while happy with the reviews, tell me that good reviews don't bring in an audience. Guess they were right. We premiered on Friday, March 12th to less than great numbers.

There are several things stacking the odds against us. Our time slot, charmingly known as "The Fox Friday Death Slot" is quickly living up to its name. There has been much confusion and differing opinion over just how to promote this odd little series. Maybe the unique charm, heart and volcanic snark aren't coming through. I dunno. Fact is, I have no power over network promotion, I can't force Fox to air "Wonderfalls" on Monday nights, I don't have a Nielsen box or know anyone who does.

But I do have this keyboard, my cable-modem and a relationship with genre fans all over the world because of the internet. All of the shows I've worked on in the last several years have had loyal internet followings. From "Lois and Clark" to "The X-Files," from "Angel" to the short-lived but much-loved "Firefly." Ever since I've been associated with genre television I've had the extreme honor and pleasure (and sometimes hair-pulling madness) of interacting with fans of these shows via the internet. You are the most dedicated, passionate and, frankly, smartest fans around.

And I'm turning to you now because I believe you're a huge untapped resource.

I know that every one of you is connected to many others that I can't reach. If you can give a hand here, you might be keeping us afloat long enough for us to catch the tide. Worth a shot, anyway.

I know the network wants this show to work. They're willing for it to work. And if there's any way that my plea now will help Friday's numbers tick up just a touch, I think that would be a tremendous sign to them.

The next new episode of "Wonderfalls" airs Friday, March 19th at 9:00pm on Fox. Please tune in and mention it to someone else. Preferably someone with a Nielsen box.

So anyway, I thought I'd mention it. Oh, also, the network is going to repeat our pilot on Thursday, March 18th at 9:00pm after "Tru Calling." So if you missed it last Friday, here's your chance to catch it.

Thanks --
Sincerely,
Tim Minear

PS - I know the conventional wisdom says that good reviews don't mean anything to potential viewers, but here's a taste of them anyway:

TV GUIDE (3/13-19), Matt Roush
"Ironic and romantic, WONDERFALLS is a true original. Surrender to its charms."

PEOPLE (3/22), Terry Kelleher
"The reason to watch WONDERFALLS is Dhavernas. With a star like this, a series doesn't really need a gimmick."


ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (3/19), Ken Tucker
"A-" "...a revelation - a blessing, even.... Each of the four episodes I've seen is better than the one preceding it."

USA TODAY (3/12), Robert Bianco
"WONDERFALLS is such an unexpected treat"

LOS ANGELES TIMES (3/12), Robert Lloyd
"WONDERFALLS is so well done, so fresh and unpredictable, and so little in thrall to conventional virtues as to make the weary reviewer prostrate with joy... everything clicks here"

NEW YORK TIMES (3/12), Virginia Hefferman
"Beautifully shot and written with wit... Dhavernas is delightful."

NEWSDAY (3/12), Noel Holston
"the best pilot of the 2003-2004 season... Dhavernas is a find, a marvelously understated comic actress and her supporting cast is impeccable"

CHICAGO TRIBUNE (3/12), Steve Johnson
"the series looks and feels like nothing else on television... it all remains, almost magically, in balance, a delicate, roadside-attraction wonderland where mysteries of the cosmos, lowbrow popular culture, family dysfunction, longing and, mostly humor can coexist."

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (3/12), Tim Goodman
"unquestionably the best new drama series of the 2003-04 season... this is your time to love TV"

WASHINGTON POST (3/12), Tom Shales
"WONDERFALLS is wonderful... a prime example of risktaking originality, a brassy blast of fresh air any way you look at it."

BOSTON HERALD (3/12), Amy Amatangelo
"Executive producers Todd Holland, Tim Minear and Bryan Fuller have created a show unlike any other on television."

THE GLOBE AND MAIL (3/12), John Doyle
"WONDERFALLS is the best new drama in ages... Caroline Dhavernas is impeccable"

US WEEKLY ­ John Griffiths
"The writing is deliriously clever, the plots strangely Zen and uplifting, and Dhavernas is beyond winning as the loser-stamped Jaye. A fun, wild free fall."

POPGURLS (3/12), Allyson A Popgurl
"...get together with some friends, order in some Chinese, watch Wonderfalls at 9pm on FOX this Friday, and then go out to your favorite dive bar and snark with each other. Make it a regular Friday thing. You'll be happier for it."

Posted By: Bmat Mar 28, 2004 - 10:49 am

Firefly DVD

In case I wasn't the last person to realize this, there are commentaries by the actors available on some of the episodes. The way to access them is to click on language options and then to toggle on the feature by clicking commentaries. Go ahead then and play the episode, and the actors will be commenting over the audio.

I'm going to have to go back now and watch the commentaried (?) version of the other episodes.

Posted By: ZimNova May 07, 2004 - 10:42 am

Latest News on Serenity (thanks to the Sci-Fi Wire.)

Joss Whedon—who is directing Serenity, a movie version of his SF western TV series Firefly—told SCI FI Wire that he will begin production in three weeks, with all of the original cast members in place, led by Nathan Fillion. Compared with the Fox series, the movie will be "bigger, faster, stronger," Whedon said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles. "The show plays on a very small, personal level. And while I want that to work in the movie, the movie has an epic quality and a resolve that you simply can't afford in a TV show. Because if you have the epic quality, you run out of money, and if you have the resolve, you run out of ideas. ... The movie is really like, if you took a giant hit of the show all at once. It's very big. Perhaps I should use different imagery."

Whedon added that the movie will wrap up story points left dangling when Fox unceremoniously canceled the show in the middle of its first season. "It won't wrap up all the storylines," he said. "It's not a miniseries. It's a movie. But it does deal with some of the outstanding questions of the show. Like River [Summer Glau]. River is a very important question in the show."

Whedon added that the movie will be shot in Los Angeles on all-new sets. "They're a little grander in scale," he said. "They're a little more movie-like. ... Everything outside of Serenity is a place we haven't visited and people we've not seen, but it is the world that was from the show." Serenity is aiming at a 2005 release.

Posted By: Pat0214 Dec 30, 2004 - 11:32 am

Latest news/rumors I saw said it would come out in may of 2005.

Can't wait to see a trailer

Posted By: Sindatur Dec 30, 2004 - 11:45 am

Pat, that was the original date, but, a month or so back, Joss Whedon said the studio decided with all the big stuff coming out in the May timeframe (primarily Star Wars Ep III, I would imagine), that it should be pushed back until September. So, I'm not sure if maybe your information is more current and the studio changed their minds again, or if you are operating off older information. Check for the Movies thread "Serenity" (The title of the Firefly movie) for the post I believe I copied or linked from ScifiWire

Posted By: Pat0214 Dec 30, 2004 - 12:06 pm

I was probably out of date on my news Sindatur. It make's sense that they might not want to release it at the same time as Star Wars.

Oh well!! 9 months to wait for it :-(

Posted By: Magus Dec 30, 2004 - 08:14 pm

Yeah. I think Star Wars would win out with the general population any day. But, still, I would like to see Firefly. Time to try Netflicks... or whatever it's called.